President John F. Kennedy might have spent his post-White House years as publisher of the New York Post.

Shortly before his death, Kennedy gave longtime Post owner Dorothy Schiff a tour of the Oval Office. When she asked if he thought about becoming a newspaper owner after he left the White House, he responded he would like that.

“All right, I’ll keep The Post warm for you until you are ready,” Schiff said, according to the Web site Capital New York.

A senior Kennedy aide, historian Arthur Schles–inger Jr., had previously tried to get Kennedy to influence a bidding war for the paper.

In 1962, Schlesinger told Kennedy that Schiff was ready to sell The Post, and that a controversial Washington businessman, David Karr, was a leading contender.

Schlesinger asked Kennedy to encourage a rival group that included entertainment lawyer and Democratic fund-raiser Arthur Krim, according to a memo cited by the Web site. There is no indication that Kennedy intervened.

Negotiations collapsed, and within days of Schlesinger’s memos to Kennedy, Schiff announced: